Travel Registration for UW Employees: FAQs

As of July 25, 2025, you are required to register official UW international travel, per APS 75.1 Official International Travel.

As part of the required registration, you receive the following benefits –

• Travel registration is the best way to access your international insurance coverage.
• Part of this insurance coverage includes access to International SOS, an overseas emergency assistance service. Accessing the ISOS materials is done through your travel registration portal.
• Travel registration is the primary way that UW Global Travel Health and Safety stays up-to-date on the whereabouts of travelers abroad on UW official business. In the event of an emergency, resources are more readily available when we know where you are, how to reach you, or how to get in touch with your emergency contacts.
• Travel registration confirmation may also be required by your department for reimbursement.
• Travel to high risk destinations requires, per university policy, approval from the International Travel Risk Assessment Committee and the Provost.

• After clicking on a registry link above, you’ll be asked to login with your NetID.
  • Note: you will see a large ‘UW Study Abroad’ logo – you’re in the right place! We know you’re not on a study abroad program.
• Next, you will enter relevant traveler information, including name and NetID as well as destination and dates of travel.
  • Note: you will need to select the destination from the dropdown menu. It will populate with destinations once you start typing.
• Provide the mobile phone number you will be using abroad and emergency contact information.
• You can also share flight information, detailed itineraries with multiple destination cities, and lodging information.

Unfortunately there is no way to register on behalf of someone else without using their NetID. At this point, only the individual traveling can register for themselves – the registry lives behind a UW NetID login page.

Administrators can also email itinerary information to UW Global Travel Health and Safety (travelemergency@uw.edu) who can create the registration manually and email an access link to the traveler. Itinerary information should include only the travel dates and city, country(ies) of travel.

All individual official trips should be registered. Trips are determined by your itinerary parameters and the assumption that a traveler is returning to the US, their home country, or taking time off in between.

For example, a faculty member that travels to Bangkok every month for a week, returning to the US for the other three weeks of the month, they would need to register each of those trips separately.

Conversely, if a faculty member is traveling to Nairobi for a meeting with research partners and then immediately flying to Geneva to present at a conference, that should be registered under the same trip with multiple destinations.

The individual trips are not defined by the parameters of an award or grant, but based on the specific “round-trip” itinerary dates.

A Travel Waiver is required for travel to any Department of State Level 3 of 4 country or region. If you are traveling to a country that has Level 3 and 4 areas, even if you will not be traveling to them, you will be required to submit a waiver. If a waiver is required, it will be included in the registration process.

Our system is automated to flag any country with an elevated advisory level (including regional ones), which is why a travel waiver may be required for your itinerary country. Due to technical constraints, we aren’t able to filter out destinations by city. We can’t account for every city in every Level 4 region around the world. The solution is a travel waiver that deploys based on the itinerary country, not city or region. The travel waiver, in this case, acts essentially as a signature document, confirming your itinerary city. The intention is to help us mitigate and reduce the possibility that we would be unaware of UW travel to a high-risk area. 

More information on the insurance is included in your registration, including steps on how to download the International SOS app. You must use your UW email to login.

Using International SOS, the emergency assistance provider, is the easiest way to access your Cigna insurance while abroad.

See here for more information.

Yes, dependents (children, spouses, domestic partners, etc.) who are accompanying UW personnel on an official trip are covered under the same insurance policy. They should not register separate travel and are automatically covered under your registration.

• Your registration will be processed immediately, and you will receive a confirmation email.
• We encourage you to also register your travel with the U.S. Embassy / Consulate through the U.S. State Department’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program.

• The UW International Travel Registry assists the Office of Global Affairs in providing emergency support and resources to UW travelers abroad.
• It is not an approval process – you are required to get travel approval from your individual unit or department.
• Registry information is confidential. It is used by the UW Global Travel team in case of an emergency, and to provide support when requested.

• All UW employees traveling outside of the U.S. on official UW travel.
• All UW graduate assistants, residents and fellows traveling outside of the U.S. on official UW travel.
• All covered individuals.

Personal travel does not need to be registered unless the traveler is a Covered Individual, in which case certain types of personal travel will need to be registered. Please note: personal travel is not covered under UW global insurance.

For questions about Covered Individual definitions, contact the Office of Research: researchsecurity@uw.edu.

The definition of covered individual varies depending on the federal agency. Generally, however, it is:

An individual who (A) contributes in a substantive, meaningful way to the scientific development or execution of an R&D project proposed to be carried out with an…award from a Federal research agency; and (B) is designated as a covered individual by the Federal research agency concerned.” See Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Memo

For more information, see here.

Travel to US territories and commonwealths should be registered.

Our insurance coverage will extend to those areas as well.

If the primary purpose of travel is personal then the travel does not need to be registered.

However, if a traveler knows that as part of their personal travel they will be working as part of their faculty/staff appointment for a predetermined period then just those dates can be registered. Working abroad for more than thirty days, that is working internationally while receiving UW payroll funds, including for personal reasons, falls into a different category than just travel registration.

Temporary remote work abroad for periods exceeding 30 days require additional review.

It is up to each unit or department to determine any individual consequences for not registering. Your individual unit manages your requests and approvals process and may withhold travel reimbursements without proof of confirmation of registration.

For retroactive travel, if the travel dates have already passed, the travel does not need to be registered.

There are also possible institutional consequences for not registering travel, particularly for covered individuals or longer-term travel that poses tax, export control, or cybersecurity risks and regulations.

• If you are leading a group of students on an international program or trip not affiliated with the Bothell, Seattle or Tacoma study abroad offices, visit the UW Student Tours website to register your program and learn more about how UW Study Abroad and the UW Global Travel Security program can assist with administering the health and safety elements of your program.
• All students traveling overseas through an academic program or receiving funds/sponsorship from UW must purchase the UW International Insurance, activate International SOS, register international travel, and request a waiver for travel to high-risk destinations. This will automatically deploy in your program proposal and in student’s individual applications. You should not register a separate trip for the duration of your program.

Student status takes precedent over employment status for UW international travel. If you are enrolled in any credit-bearing capacity at the UW, you are required to register your travel as a student, even if the travel is related to your employment.

• Those taking non-matriculated classes should register as faculty/staff.
• UW Medical Residents should register as faculty/staff.

UW students, click here to register your travel.

The UW Travel Office determines what is considered a reimbursable travel expense. In the case of specifically UW Student Abroad Insurance, it is required under the Official International Student Travel policy and therefore reimbursable. 

If grant funds have been designated for incidental expenses related to international travel then insurance should fall within that. However, a unit should defer to the grant administrator for specific guidance. 

UW Global Travel Health and Safety would like to emphasize that the $25 fee is not an administrative fee but rather the student traveler’s insurance premium.